~ snow biking, part one ~

Mountain biking through the winter months went up a notch this weekend for Josh and I as we set out on our first real snow bike excursion. Some have suggested that my inspiration has come from Jill in Alaska and her winter adventures, but it is much more than inspiration that her blog provides - - it suggests that the winter months can be unique opportunities to pursue the same outdoor activities that one does in the warmer months, and that one only needs different gear and an attitude adjustment. For me, the problem with winter sports is that I have been unable to pursue them directly outside my front door. Cross country skiing is a winter sport that I could really get behind, except for that it requires that I drive to somewhere that is good for skiing. Driving, in general, is something I try to avoid doing and driving in the winter, in particular, is something that can really take the fun out of an activity. Just the pure fact that I cannot engage in skiing unless I drive somewhere has been the major barrier to my developing a strong interest in skiing. Mountain biking, in contrast, is something that I can do without driving anywhere, what with my living less than a mile away from the foothills trails. And if you think about it, is mountain biking really so different than cross country skiing? (other than the driving thing). I wonder why a general attitude about mountain biking is that it is for the non-winter months...

As I've previously written, having the proper gear for winter biking is a science. And Josh and I have pretty much figured it out. When I last wrote, we continued to have trouble with our hands and feet. I hinted at the bottom of my last post that I was thinking about procuring a pair of handlebar sleeve mitts/pogies... and I did! This past week, I conducted an extensive local and online search. I was unable to find anyone locally who sold such an item and I was unable to find mountain bike pogies for under $60. As I've already spent a good wad of cash on winter gear recently, I was hoping to find something more affordable. I ended up locating a very affordable option from a hunting shop in Bonners Ferry. They are essentially pogies for ATVs or snowmobiles (and are endorsed by the National Rifle Association). They are windproof, insulated, and cost a whopping $30. I also received excellent customer service - - the man I chatted with on the phone was very helpful, and I ordered two pairs on Thursday and received them on Saturday. Josh and I had planned to go on a big snow bike adventure, and I was delighted when the pogies arrived in the mail.

We rode Bucktail/Shanes to Rocky Canyon Road and up the lower part of Orchard Trail. Riding through the snow, both climbing and descending was very SLOW. My cycle-computer needs new batteries, so I don't have any official stats, but I think we were out for three hours. (of course, we were not riding for that whole time). I am satisfied to report that the pogies worked very well. During the climbs, I removed my gloves entirely and rode with my hands contained in the pogie-cocoon of warmth. During the descent, my hands did get cold - - but I believe there are specific reasons for this (one, I rubbed cold snow all over my hands prior to starting the descent because I had gotten something sticky on them (the learning here is to tolerate the sticky and not rub snow on your hands), and two, because my gloves were too tight and cut off blood flow). The cutting off of blood circulation has been a key reason for coldness, and ever since I bought these gloves I've wondered if they are too small. That evening, I went out to REI and exchanged the gloves for a bigger pair. Also, I was able to warm my hands back up on the descent. It is also worth noting that the temperature was 22 degrees.

As for the feet, I had great success. I wore one pair of Smartwool cycling socks, wrapped a chemical toe warmer over my little toes, wore my normal cycling shoes, insulated with a bootie, wrapped all of this with a plastic grocery bag, and then finalized with a windblocking bootie. (in the above photo, you can see the plastic grocery bags sticking out of my booties). This worked very well for warmth. THE PROBLEM was that snow and ice clogged up my cleats and pedals every time I put my foot down (which was more frequently than normal because I kept losing traction on the slippery snow), and after three hours this got to be very frustrating. I have resolved to switch to platform pedals and ride with hiking boots for the snow season.

Speaking of traction, I am concerned about losing traction with flat pedals, but I don't know what else to do. Traction was a big issue on this ride. In the above photo, you can see something that is so rare, it is astonishing I actually captured it in a photo. The photo is of Josh walking his bike up a little hill after losing traction. This is the tiny hill/dip on Shanes. That Josh had to walk his bike up this measely hill evinces how slippery the snow was at times. SHOCKINGLY, I was able to maintain traction better than Josh. I attribute this to running my tires at very very low psi. Before we left on the ride, Josh and I both put studded tires on our bikes. As we were filling them with air, I said something about wanting to run low pressure. I have been reading about snow biking on the internets (for example, at IceBike) and a general piece of wisdom has to do with really really low psi. When I filled my tires up to 25 psi, Josh acted as though that was too low - - then when I let most of that air out on the trail, Josh had a very small freakout about how I did not know what I was doing. He later recanted, and affirmed that this was one time when I was right and he was wrong. Anyway, throughout the ride, I had significantly better traction. Yes, I was still slipping out, but Josh kept remarking about how I wasn't struggling as much as he was. When we began the descent down Rocky Canyon Road, Josh noticed very clearly that I was able to ride along and maintain a little stability, while he was fishtailing all over. He then let out a lot of his air, and agreed that it was much better. He also mentioned that maybe he should ride fatter tires. (in the below photo, check his skinny tires).

Biking in the snow required a lot more effort, obviously. We rode the flatter/lower portion of Orchard Trail before turning around for the descent. The descent was interesting. I tried to find the right balance of keeping my speed in check and not hitting my brakes. I tried to steer the bike down the trail, but did not steer away from how the snow was making the bike travel. It was the dichotomy of being in control of one's mountain biking but being relaxed to allow the trail and snow to carry me and my bike along. It was fun, but it was definitely unnerving to surrender so much control. And it was not at all scary. Going down Rocky Canyon Road was the same - - riding faster but keeping the speed in check and going with the flow of the snow. We ended up connecting back to Shanes and Bucktail for the last portion of the descent. This proved to be an excellent route because (1) descending Bucktail through the snow actually required expending some energy which was helpful in retaining body heat, and (2) we succeeded in having some awesome flow along the singletrack.

Also of note is that during this ride, we were able to ride out of the inversion. In the below photo, the grey portion on the horizon is actually the inversion smoke. We hit it once we got to Shanes and smelled a very distinct nasty smokey smell and my throat started to get sore.

More photos on my photoset.

Posted by jennifer at 11:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)